Nursing Excellence

The Online Newsletter for Children's Nursese-Edition, Issue 4

A Vision for Advanced Respiratory Therapist Conditioning

By Daniel Engelhaupt, RCP, RRT Director Respiratory Care Services

In February 2008, the Respiratory Care Services (RCS) Department set as a goal the establishment of a shared vision for the department. The vision that was adopted raised the bar of expectations for staff professionally as well as clinically. To achieve this lofty vision the first requirement was for all current Respiratory Care Practitioners (RCPs) to achieve the advanced Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) credential by Aug. 1, 2009. The second requirement was that all new graduate RCPs hired by Children’s Hospital Central California would achieve their RRT credential within 12 months. By elevating the credentialing requirement for RCPs, we believe that we are showing a professional commitment to excellence in healthcare as well as in developing ourselves to our fullest potential.

The RRT requirement affected 34 RCPs at Children’s Hospital. The majority of them were veteran RCPs who had been out of the school environment for several years. We knew it would be difficult for some and challenging for all who participated, all the while RCS leadership knew that each person had the potential to learn, or re-learn, the information required to succeed in this endeavor. After all, each of these individuals had demonstrated a Children’s “can do” spirit that earned them a position in our organization.

We learned many things along the way. We learned the importance of:

Patience – Sometimes the “road” through the application process is straight and other times a winding path.

Friends studying with friends – Colleagues, sharing their experiences both clinical and with the credentialing process, serve as motivators and supporters for each other.

Life-long learning – Even experienced RCPs can learn something new. Educators have relished for centuries the look on a student’s face and the twinkle in their eye when they reach a point of understanding that they hadn’t been able to reach before. So too was the RCPs who took on and achieved this accomplishment.

Collegial support – Our colleagues believe in our abilities and will pitch in and help if asked. Some secretly desired an outstretched hand of help. Others preferred to slog through the mire on their own knowing that they would feel a greater sense of accomplishment by doing it themselves than if they accepted the willing assistance of others.

Lastly, we learned that our nursing colleagues could also be resources for our endless questions and cheerleaders for our successes. As is displayed day in and day out at Children’s, the bond between respiratory care and nursing is as vital to the success of each of us as individuals, as it is to the successful care and healing of the children we serve.

What did we accomplish with this lofty goal? When we started this quest, 70 percent of our RCP staff was registered. At the time of this submission, and with the anticipation of three new graduate hires, 97 percent of our staff will be credentialed RRTs. In less than two years, we have achieved a monumental goal that only a few organizations across the country have achieved. By doing so, we have moved closer to our vision of promoting the art and science of respiratory care for neonatal and pediatric patients in a unique way that sets the standard for others to follow.

As a Magnet facility, this superbly magnetic fact is, and will continue to be, a pull that draws others into our organization. Why? Because they want to be part of a unique and respected team of professionals that demonstrate their commitment to advancing respiratory care at Children’s. By doing so, they will also serve as reminder that the most precious patients in the Central Valley deserve the very best that we can offer.

We’d like to honor and congratulate Children’s RCPs who are Registered Respiratory Therapist credentialed.